Sharks GM Wilson wants McLellan back as coach

SAN JOSE -- Sharks general manager Doug Wilson expressed extreme disappointment in his team Friday morning.

"This is not a nick or a scratch, this is an open wound" -- then said he will recommend that Todd McLellan and the coaching staff be part of what comes next for the franchise.

"This one should hurt. I do feel for our fans and organization. It should not have happened. It did," Wilson said. "We will make some decisions going forward. There are options. Status quo is not one of them."

Wilson said the decision-making process has started.

"My recommendation is that our coaching staff be part of this going forward," Wilson said, an indication that the ultimate decision belongs to owner Hasso Plattner.

Wilson said he had not yet spoken to Plattner, but the general manager recognized he, too, is under evaluation.

"Absolutely and it should be," Wilson said. "What needs to be done for this organization is what's right for the organization. Nobody is bigger than this organization. We put a plan in place a year ago, we talked about it six months ago. We now have some very critical decisions to make."

It was Wilson's first statement since the Sharks were eliminated from the playoffs by the Los Angeles Kings after San Jose won the first three games of the series. Only three other teams in NHL history had experienced such an epic collapse before.

"When you're up 3-0 in a series, you step on their throat and put them away," Wilson said. "They came back and were able to establish their game for four games. We played it for three. It's not good enough. That's the truth."

And he, like McLellan previously, singled out the Sharks' top players -- all of whom failed to score in the final three games of the series.

"With all due respect to James Sheppard and Matty Irwin, they can't be your only goal scorers the last three games," Wilson said. "You can't go 0-for-16 on your power play."

McLellan said that having had a chance to watch Game 7 again, he was even more frustrated by the Sharks' performance than he was immediately after the game, when he took responsibility for what had just happened.

"With accepting the role as a coach, you accept that responsibility," the coach said. "Now you can't play, which also comes into play."

McLellan said Wilson met with the players "and made it very clear how disappointed he was in the whole organization, not just the players. That included all of the staff and anything up and anything down. That's the way it should be."

Wilson would not say what he told the team, nor would he answer questions about any individual player's performance. The general manager said the decision-making process should take 10 days to two weeks, when the results first would be presented to ownership.